Pages

Friday, February 05, 2010

Walnut Vanilla Bean Marzipan

I really meant to post this before christmas, but... oh well, you can eat marzipan all year round, can't you? It's simple to make, and it's a lot tastier than what you can find at the store. I added walnuts and vanilla, to make it a bit more interesting, but you can certainly make it from just almonds as well. And no need to blanch and peel unless you want to - I didn't mind the slightly rougher texture and greyish color since I was making little pigs. You could certainly color your marzipan, too, but frankly I didn't want to add any chemicals to it.

You *do* need an almond grinder. Using a food processor won't give you the same texture, and it's quite possible that the measurements won't work to give you a smooth marzipan. Feel free to try it, but no guarantees...

Grind almonds and walnuts in an almond grinder. Combine with the powdered sugar and egg white, and add the syrup. If the mixture seems too wet, you can add more sugar. If it's too dry, add more syrup. Finally, mix in the scraped out innards of the vanilla bean.

Shape little pigs, or whatever you feel like...

When you get tired of shaping the marzipan, you can make this simple candy with nougat. Press marzipan into a small tin. Melt nougat and pour on top. Leave it to set completely, then drizzle with melted dark chocolate. Keeps well in the fridge.